Regardless of whether the story/video is old, I think that it is interesting to see legal experts debating the grey-area-ness of this issue. I recently bought one of those Hot Topic Barricade track jackets, and I've been having some mixed feelings about wearing it while a jog. On the one hand, it's an awesome jacket design. On the other, I get the feeling that some people are going to mistake me for a cop, and that's a bad thing for two reasons. First, I live in a crime-ridden Northeastern city, so I don't want some homey-character thinking he should mess with me just because he doesn't like cops. Second, I don't want a cop to see me and come to think that I'm also impersonating a cop. So, unfortunately, I've resigned to wearing my awesome Barricade track jacket at family gatherings only. And that sucks.

It might seem like I'm trying to derail this thread, but I'm not. Here's my point: I recognized that there are downsides to the awesomeness of trying to imitate (in some way, either with a jacket or what-have-you) a fictional character who imitates the police in-the-fiction. Thus, even though I spent thirty bucks on the product, I won't go trouncing around in public with it on. This guy should recognize that even if there are "good intentions" (to please your kid?! give me a break--he liked the goddamned movie and seems to be embarrassed to admit it), he shouldn't put himself into a position where he might look like he's imitating the police.

Actually, I really liked the liquid-terminator from T2, especially when he wore that uniform and rode that police-bike. I think I'll go get decked out right now to look like that creepy weirdo from T2. (("No officer; you see, I'm not imitating the cops. I'm dressed up like that weird terminator from T2."))

As an staunch anarchist, how about this for a solution? Abolish the police! They're nothing more than brutish hired mercenary murderer-thugs for the state anyway. Leave *real* crime-fighting up to private investigators and security companies to go after cases where an actual victim has been harmed by someone's actions. And I have to ask, WHY is painting and decorating your own private property in a certain arrangement of colors and figures a "crime"? Ridiculous!

Then years from now, after violent institutions like government and police are gone, people like this innocent gentleman will either be praised by Transfans like us for being a great fan and a great dad to his son... and the rest of the public will laugh at these anachronisitc "police impersonators" as harmless buffoons much like most of us today joke about anachronistic Civil War re-enactors.